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“This plan is like providing public safety with its own expandable, high speed lane, and it is a cost-effective investment in a national asset,” Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, said of the FCC’s proposal. “Merely allocating an additional 10 MHz to public safety would be like building a separate, stand-alone highway system, and one so expensive that it would not even reach every community in America for years.”

Waxman’s draft bill draws heavily on the FCC’s recommendations and promises federal dollars to the highest bidder to offset early network construction costs. But top public safety officials maintain they need far more spectrum than a commercial partner could guarantee – not to mention, many more federal dollars for the task – in order to meet their daily communication needs.

Their objections have aligned conveniently with those of top telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T. Analysts say those powerful providers are far more amenable to a public safety-run network because they fear the auction process could allow another competitor to make big gains.

Those big firms might also hope to piggyback on public safety airwaves, leasing some of the unused spectrum for commercial use in high-demand cities, where congestion often leads to dropped calls or slower mobile Web connections.

Those shared interests have allowed the two distinct communities to marry under the banner of the Public Safety Alliance – a collection of first responder associations that has launched a $500,000 advertising campaign against Waxman’s efforts.

They seem to have at least the initial support of subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who told POLITICO on Tuesday he did not support the Democrats’ approach of allowing the FCC to set conditions on who can compete in the auction – even though the FCC has issued no such guidance.

But the chairman’s bill is likely to score at least a few allies on Capitol Hill. Foremost among them are the smaller telecommunications companies, including T-Mobile, which otherwise would have found it difficult to bid against their bigger competitors.

"The staff discussion draft of the Public Safety Broadband Act of 2010 cuts to the heart of the problem that has blocked the construction of a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network: the lack of funding,” said Tom Sugrue, vice president of governmental affairs at T-Mobile. “We applaud the House Energy and Commerce Committee leadership for crafting a smart solution that leverages the D block asset to best achieve public safety's goals."

Readers' Comments (2)

This system eliminates the redundancy which has so often been a lifesaver.

The problem at the WTC was because of the inability of agencies to communicate across services (fire couldn't talk to police, for instance). The solution is simple, and has been used in every state in the country -- they set up frequencies for mutual aid, so that the Sheriff's Office, police departments, Highway Patrol, and fire departments can talk to each other simply by going to that channel on the radio.